Ex-Soviet Russian Emergency Narratives: Cheers and Tears of the Painful Transformation
Target audience
Legal scholars with multidisciplinary (history, political science) background of all level are welcome. It is not required to be an expert in the Soviet law or the Russian legal studies, or legal history of emergency.
Organizing and scientific committee
Botakoz Kazbek
Prof. Dr. Cosmin Cercel
Abstract
Legal and political scholarship has largely overlooked the constitutional and legal mechanisms related to emergencies in Russia. Our proposed Specialist Course addresses this gap. By bringing together an international community at Ghent University, this course will facilitate sharing findings through lectures and quality discussion through Q&A sessions. Thus legal scientific scholars and scholars practitioners will help to increase understanding regarding how Russia’s constitutional system, forged through periodic turbulence, generates new emergencies.
Objectives
The main objective of the Specialist Course is to share research findings with the UGent graduate students. The course will help to delve into the extra-constitutional behaviour of Russian state bodies during emergencies, shedding light on their role—especially given the escalating global tensions. Then, by analysing the period from 1980 to 1990s it will explore potential path-dependent patterns. Constitutional law scholars have yet to pinpoint the precise factors shaping Russia’s constitutional and legal culture across different eras. Thus, through this learning activity, the listeners will learn about legal institutions that emerged after the collapse of the USSR and which survived despite the radical political, economic and ideological changes. The secondary objective of the course is to unite international experts under the UGent roof for learning through sharing and further networking.
Dates and venue
11-13 September 2024
Faculteitsraadzaal, lokaal 7.1 and lokaal 8.1, Campus Aula
Programme
11 September 2024
Venue: Faculteitsraadzaal, Campus Aula (Universiteitstraat 4, 9000 Gent)
Moderator: Botakoz Kazbek,
| 09h00-09h05 |
Welcome speech Prof. Dirk Heirbaut (Director of the Institute of legal history, Faculty of law and criminology, UGent) Prof. Cosmin Cercel (Faculty of law and criminology, UGent) |
| 09h05-10h00 |
Lecture: Rethinking emergency from a legal historical perspective: contexts, actors, practices, 1914-2020 Prof. Cosmin Cercel, Faculty of law and criminology, UGent |
| 10h00-11h00 |
Presentation: Post-Soviet practice of emergency - historical overview Botakoz Kazbek, PhD student, Faculty of law and criminology, UGent |
| 11h00-11h15 | Coffee break |
| 11h15-12h15 |
Lecture: The law and politics of post-Soviet constitutionalism Prof. Peter Van Elsuwege, Ghent European Law Institute, UGent |
| 12h15-13h30 | Lunch |
| 13h30-14h30 |
Lecture: Soviet Constitutions and State Assemblies between the Revolution and Perestroika Prof. Ivan Sablin, Heidelberg University |
| 14h30-15h00 |
Lecture: The Soviet state law Botakoz Kazbek, PhD student, Faculty of law and criminology, UGent |
| 15h00- 15h30 |
The expert roundtable discussion. Participants:
|
12 September 2024
Moderators: Botakoz Kazbek, Dr. Alina Cherviatsova and Dr. Jose Gustavo Prieto Munoz
Venue: 8.1 Multimedialokaal, Campus Aula (Universiteitstraat 4, 9000 Gent)
|
09h00-10h00 |
Lecture: Theory of Legal Survivals: Explaining the Continuity of Legal Forms following Transitions, Transformations and Revolutions Dr. Rafał Mańko, Democracy Institute/Rule of Law Working Group, Central European University |
|
10h00-11h00 |
Lecture: to be confirmed Dr. Adam Sulikowski, University of Wroclaw |
|
11h00-11h15 |
Coffee break |
|
11h15-12h15 |
Lecture: Oil, debt and austerity. Revisiting Romanian state socialism at the end of neoliberalism Prof. Florin Poenaru, University of Bucharest |
|
12h15-13h30 |
Lunch |
|
13h30-14h30 |
Lecture: State Law and Political System of the Russian Federation: Too Soviet for Being Post-Soviet? Dr. Alina Cherviatsova, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellow, Human Rights Center, Ghent University |
|
14h30-15h30 |
Lecture: Investment Law Narratives in Transition: Post-Soviet States on the Global Regulatory Battleground Dr. Jose Gustavo Prieto Munoz, FWO Senior Fellow, Department of European, Public and International Law, Ghent University |
|
15h30-16h30 |
Lecture: Soviet Occupation of Romania 1944-1958 Mihai-Claudiu Dragomirescu, PhD candidate, Ghent University |
13 September 2024
Moderator: Botakoz Kazbek
Venue: Lokaal 8.1 Multimedialokaal, Campus Aula (Universiteitstraat 4, 9000 Gent)
|
09h00-10h00 |
Lecture: Russian imperial legal and constitutional reform and counter-reform: From Catherine and Alexander II, through post-Soviet restoration of reform, to Putin’s return to Russian imperialism, and his demolition of reform Prof. Bill Bowring, Birkbeck College, University of London |
|
10h00-11h00 |
Lecture: The war in Ukraine as a result of the failed integration of Russia in the Euro-Atlantic security order after the Cold War Prof. Tom Sauer, University of Antwerp |
|
11h00-11h15 |
Coffee break |
|
11h15-12h15 |
Lecture: Czech and Slovak Post-Communist transitions, collective memory, and relations with Russia Prof. Aliaksei Kazharski, Charles University |
|
12h15-13h30 |
Lunch |
|
13h30-14h30 |
Lecture: Debunking the myth of “Great Russian Culture”: Is it always Russian? Dr. Alina Cherviatsova, Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellow, Human Rights Center, UGent |
|
14h30-15h30 |
Lecture: Structures, Processes, and Human Folly: Explaining the Fall of the Soviet Union Prof. Vladimir Solonari, University of Central Florida |
|
15h30-16h30 |
Lecture: Antipolitics, Post-Politics, Hyperpolitics: On the Politics of Critical and Post-Critical Legal Studies? Prof. Laurent Desutter, Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) |
Registration
- Follow this link for the registration and waiting list.
- Cancellation of your registration can only be performed by sending an email to doctoralschools@ugent.be.
Registration fee
Free of charge for Doctoral School members.
Number of participants
Maximum 50
Language
English
Evaluation method
Active participation during Q&A sessions and presentations
After successful participation, the Doctoral School Office will add this course to your curriculum of the Doctoral Training Programme in Oasis. Please note that this can take up to one to two months after completion of the course.